June 16/99 8:40 am - Road Nationals Update, HP Stage 9

Posted by Editor on 06/16/99

Road Nationals Update

There has been a lot of discussion on the Forums (and in e-mail to us and organizers) concerning registration for next week's National Road Championships. Specifically, many of the Masters age riders have had concerns regarding having to show up on Tuesday, June 22nd to pick up their race packages, even if they have registered and paid online. That situation has been addressed by the organizers, and a DAILY schedule for the registration department has now been set up. If you go to the Nationals site (icon in the upper right corner of your browser), and go into the Registration section, you will find a schedule of daily race package pick up and sign on. The revised procedure should, hopefully, address the voiced concerns.

A second question was regarding the road race circuit for the Masters and Juniors (ie, the races on saturday, June 26th). This is a DIFFERENT circuit from the Senior course, and a map of this circuit is now posted on the Maps page.

Hopefully, these actions will answer most questions, however, if you have any other concerns, please do not hesitate to contact either the organizers or us.

Palmer Fifth in HP Stage 9

Buhl, ID, June 16 - Olympian Sarah Ulmer (Elita) of New Zealand soloed away from a seven-woman breakaway with less than three miles to go in Stage 9, the 84.2-mile HP Paper Road Race, to win in 3 hours, 1 minute and 32 seconds, breaking the four-year old course record by nearly 23 minutes. Olympic Gold Medallist ('92) Kathy Watt (Australia, Boise Cascade) barely outsprinted Olympian Susy Pryde (New Zealand, Saturn) for second place, 33 seconds off the pace. American Brenda Black (Scapin) initiated the breakaway just eight miles into the relatively flat stage. With temperatures approaching 100 degrees and the wind at their back, the break averaged more than 27-mph for the remaining 75 miles.

Surprised by her record-breaking ride, Ulmer, the 1998 Commonwealth Games 3000-meter Pursuit Gold medallist, quipped "I hope there is a headwind for the next 30 years."

Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (Ebly) finished with the main field, 3 minutes and 6 seconds off the record pace to retain the blue overall race leaderâ€šs jersey.